Training hike for my upcoming Mt. Whitney trek and for the 8000 meter challenge in September. Ran into 6 REI employees from the Rancho Cucamonga store on the way up and then on the way out I met another two employees from the San Diego store. Plus me that made 9 REI employees climbing Mt. Baldy that day and they were the only people I met up there. Weird...

While visitng my brother in LA, Anette and I hiked up this one. Started out at the TH at 9:30 am, hiked up to the hut pretty slowly and rested there a while chatting with the hutkeeper. Then went across the traverse to the ridge and slowly worked our way up. Better scenery than I expected. San Antonio Falls is nice (and popular) and the manzanita patches were great. Huge pinecones everywhere. At about 9200 feet on the last bit before the summit, Annie started to experience an altitude headache so we did not linger long at the summit.

Made our way back down a lot quicker and at one point, I was looking at a lizard on the side of the trail and I misstepped. Did a nice faceplant on the trail. Sweet bruise on my arm to show for it. Always impressive! ;- ) All in all, it was a much nicer hike than I expected. Such a great place right next to 15 million people. Hope to get back down there sometime to get up Gorgonio and Jacinto.

Hiked the Devil's Backbone trail up and down in fantastic weather. Hit the trail at 8:30am, and made the summit at 11:30am, just in time to avoid hiking up in the heat. The views on this trail are some of the best I've ever seen.

Great day to hike, weather was totally clear, but definitely warm. Baldy Bowl climb was sun-exposed, but summit was totally nice. Not a breath of wind on the summit, glorious day. View was awesome, 360 degrees, but a bit hazy. Stopped by for a snowball fight with my hiking buddy just below the summit at a couple small lingering late-season snowfields, just off the trail. Ran into a couple folks training for Whitney later in the summer.

Descended via Devils Backbone, Falls Road walk down from Baldy Notch was LONGGGGGGGG, felt like it would never end, temps probably 90-95 degrees....UGHHHH!

great day for hiking, a bit hot. Left the sign saying "private road" for Acorn in Wrightwood at 11:40am, hiked up the paved road, up acorn trail to baldy and made it to the top of Mt. Baldy by 2:40pm, tons of peeps on summit. Returned the same way. Tough workout, 7000' elevation gain overall. I would really recommend the north backbone trail, its steep but its not crowded, very desolate and bighorn sheep sightings are common. Unlike the other routes, this one starts from the North (Wrightwood or Guffy Area).

Our 3rd Annual. Baldy Village to the peak, down Devil's Backbone to the notch, then up over Thunder, Telegraph and Timber (The Three Ts) and down Icehouse Canyon. The payoff is standing on Telegraph and seeing practically the entire route you took up Baldy a few hours earlier.

Good hiking weather, clear with a slight cooling breeze. No snow to the Ski Hut and from there it was patchy and soft to the summit. Easy to traverse in low top boots. The views east and west from summit were spectacular. The desert was hazy and the marine layer was very thick today. Met a couple of good hiking buddies, David and Bob, who set a good pace. Back to the San Antonio Falls parking lot by 1:00.

My girlfriend and I spent nearly 5 hours post-holing our way to the summit through deep soft snow via the Bowl. I was also sick that day, but I wanted to get in the training for doing Whitney. It was pure hell all day, but it was rewarding to have done it.

We passed two guys on our way down who were heading up the Backbone. They were ill-equipped and it was very late in the day. They may have gotten themselves into trouble. We later learned that they rode the chair lifts up without paying and that the resort had called the police on them.